Key trends

The healthcare sector presents diverse challenges to both governments and private entities in the Middle East. These issues include immediate, acute infrastructure needs; regulatory reform; and the development of a long-term plan for healthcare financing. The region’s dynamic and soaring population makes these matters particularly pressing.

At the core of the region’s challenges in the healthcare sector are:

• A rapidly expanding population base made up of distinct demographic groups with unique disease profiles and health needs
• A high, and growing, prevalence of chronic conditions and diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease among the older population
• A need to improve standards relating to hospital infrastructure and providers to reach developed-world standards of care, as well as to increase access to care
• Redundancies and inefficiencies resulting from the region’s fragmented stakeholders and interest groups, with regulatory and financial policies that are not strategically aligned with the broader health agendas at the highest levels
• A fundamental lack of highly skilled professionals (physicians, nurses, etc.) who can meet the needs of the healthcare market; locally educated and trained professionals are scarce, and recruiting those from elsewhere is increasingly difficult.

Meeting the healthcare needs of the region’s population is an unending challenge. Governments struggle with how to build and pay for the improvements to the infrastructure that are needed to satisfy the increased demand. Companies must ultimately face the reality that the burden of healthcare finance cannot be indefinitely absorbed by the government, and that private contributions to healthcare coverage are on the horizon.

How we help our clients

Strategy& seeks to assist its clients in dealing with a myriad of strategic issues related to the healthcare needs of the region’s growing population base.

Strategy& helps clients in all aspects of healthcare — whether building business models and creating fresh approaches to strengthening hospitals, clinics, diagnostic laboratories, and imaging centers; conducting due diligence and market analysis in support of acquisition and organic growth; or helping government entities set high-level policies relating to healthcare finance and regulatory affairs.

We can also help our clients with capability building in medical specialties and subspecialties (for example, supporting the development of a pediatric hospital). Our Health practice often teams with our Information Technology service to build clients’ capabilities on the Health IT front; we help our clients integrate broad healthcare interests under a common IT platform.